Europe

The Israeli government’s de facto annexation and colonization of the Palestinian West Bank is illegal in international law. United Nations members cannot acquire territory by warfare according to the UN Charter (it doesn’t matter from whom they acquire the territory). The UN Charter was written by people who disapproved of the behavior of the aggressors […]

Energy

Pussy Riot Protests Russian Oil Oligarchs and Putin

Juan Cole

The Russian Punk Rock band “Pussy Riot” has released a new video, Rolling Stone reports, entitled “Like a Red Prison,” in which they attack Russia’s oil magnates and their ties to President Vladimir Putin. The song likens Putin to Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei because of his favoritism toward the Russian Orthodox Church, and complains that […]

Domestic Surveillance

UK’s Channel 4 Schools US Media on How to cover NSA, Snowden

Juan Cole

This report by Channel 4 News in the UK, covering Edward Snowden’s application for asylum in the Russian Federation and his revelations of collaboration between Microsoft and the National Security Agency struck me as everything that US “news” coverage is not. The reporters don’t just parrot the Washington line. They point out that the transit […]

Government surveillance

Snowden Fall-out: European Denial of Overflight to Bolivian President Angers South America

Juan Cole

As Bolivian President Evo Morales was returning from Moscow in a private jet after consultations on energy, his pilot was suddenly informed that France and Portugal had revoked overflight permissions, along with Spain and Italy. Spain ultimately relented, and Morales’s plane refueled there, before heading to Vienna to overnight. The Bolivian government is furious at […]

Russia

Baikonur, Kazakhstan: Unmanned Russian rocket crashes (spectacular video)

Juan Cole

At the Baikonur Space Station in Kazakhstan, an unmanned Russian Proton M rocket booster went sideways and crashed this morning. Here’s the video from Russian t.v.:

Russia

Snowden: Top Ten Signs that Putin might not be on Washington’s Side

Juan Cole

The American political class and corporate press professed itself shocked, shocked, when Russian President Vladimir Putin declined to order the arrest Edward Snowden, marooned in a transit lounge at the Moscow airport, or his return to the United States. Among Putin’s major projects has been making Russia a Great Power, recovering some of the stature […]

Government surveillance

British Gov’t Spied on Diplomats at G20 (& on UN before Iraq War)

Juan Cole

The Guardian is reporting that: “Foreign politicians and officials who took part in two G20 summit meetings in London in 2009 had their computers monitored and their phone calls intercepted on the instructions of their British government hosts, according to documents seen by the Guardian. Some delegates were tricked into using internet cafes which had […]

Russia

Syria needs a dozen S-300 batteries to protect itself – Russian general; Kerry Denounces Plan

Juan Cole

Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday deplored the Russian plan to ship S-300 anti-aircraft systems to Syria, saying that it will not lead to peace. The batteries would constrain Israel from bombarding targets in Syria and so would be a game-changer for Israeli security, and they would likely put paid to any talk of […]

Israel/ Palestine

Russia Warns Israel: Hands off Syria, as PFLP threatens Guerrilla Strike

Juan Cole

The Iranian press is reporting that Russian President Vladimir Putin has vehemently warned Israel against further airstrikes on Syria. Putin is said to be accelerating shipments of anti-aircraft batteries to Syria. Meanwhile Syrian leader Bashar al-Asad’s decision to permit guerrilla attacks on Israel from Syrian soil was welcomed by the Popular Front for the Liberation […]